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East West MRT Line
The East West Line (EWL) is the second Mass Rapid Transit line in Singapore. The line is currently long with 35 stations, including four stations under construction and to be completed by the summer of 2017, known as the Tuas West Extension (TWE), making it the longest MRT line in Singapore. It currently takes about 70 minutes to travel from one end to the other (Pasir Ris to Joo Koon). The line is coloured green on MRT system maps. Overview As its name implies, the line connects central Singapore to both eastern and western parts of the island, with an additional branch between Changi Airport and Tanah Merah, operated as a separate shuttle service. The line passes through a short tunnel between Kembangan and Bedok and goes underground between Kallang and Redhill and passes through the median roads of Tanah Merah, Bedok, Queenstown, Commonwealth, Dover, Clementi, Pioneer, Joo Koon, Gul Circle, Tuas Crescent and Tuas West Road. It takes commuters to Jurong Bird Park, Science Centre, East Point Mall, Singapore Polytechnic, Jem, Bugis Junction, Paya Lebar Square, Bedok Mall, Tampines 1, Century Square and Tampines Mall. The line passes through Singapore river, Rochor River and Kallang River. Constructed alongside the North South Line (NSL) in the 1980s, both the EWL and NSL utilise identical signalling equipment and rolling stock. History The East West Line is the second line to be built, when the City Hall to Outram Park segment was opened on 12 December 1987, with through services to Yio Chu Kang. It was extended to Clementi on 12 March 1988 and to Lakeside on 5 November 1988. Additionally, the eastern extension to Tanah Merah was opened on 4 November 1989 (when the current name was adopted to reflect the operational split from the North South Line), and to Pasir Ris on 16 December 1989. The last station of the original system, Boon Lay opened on 6 July 1990. On 18 October 2001 Dover station was opened, and then on 25 February 2002 the Expo and Changi Airport stations were opened. On 28 February 2009 the Pioneer and Joo Koon stations were officially opened to the public. Tuas West Extension (TWE) On 11 January 2011, the Tuas West Extension was announced. It is an extension of the East West Line from Joo Koon to Tuas Plaza, and consists of a 7.5 km long twin-tracked MRT viaduct, four aboveground stations and a 26-hectare depot to provide stabling and maintenance facilities for the additional trains that will be bought for the extension and to cater for future expansion of the line. The viaduct is integrated with part of a 4.8km long road viaduct along Pioneer Road, which will increase the road capacity to cope with anticipated increase in traffic. The stations — Gul Circle, Tuas Crescent, Tuas West Road and Tuas Plaza — will extend MRT connectivity to the Tuas area. When opened, the extension is expected to serve more than 100,000 commuters daily. Similarly to the preceding Circle and Downtown MRT Lines announced earlier, the four stations along the Tuas West Extension were open for public consultation from 16 December 2011 to 15 January 2012. The finalised station names were announced on 13 April 2012 and before the opening respectively. On 4 May 2012, the Land Transport Authority marked the start of construction of the Tuas West Extension with a groundbreaking ceremony at the site of the future Tuas Plaza station. On 26 October 2016, it was announced that that the stations will be opened in the second quarter of 2017 instead, so that the stations on the extension can take advantage of the new CBTC signalling system, which is being implemented on the North South and East West lines. On 27 April 2017, the Tuas West Extension was officially announced to open on 18 June 2017. Half-height platform screen door installations There were calls for platform screen doors to be installed at above-ground stations after several incidents in which passengers were killed or seriously injured by oncoming trains when they fell onto the railway tracks at above-ground stations. Underground stations already featured the doors since 1987. The authorities initially rejected the proposal by casting doubts over functionality and concerns about the high installation costs, but made an about-turn when the government announced plans to install half-height platform screen doors on the above-ground stations in January 2008, citing lower costs due to its becoming a more common feature worldwide. They were first installed at Jurong East and Pasir Ris stations in 2009 as trial runs. Installation of platform screen doors began at Clementi and Lakeside stations on April 2010. On 31 August 2011, the last station, Expo, began installation of half-height platform screen doors. Tuas West Extension Timings Monday to Friday Saturday Timeline of Stations Opened * 12 December 1987: City Hall – Outram Park * 12 March 1988: Outram Park – Clementi * 5 November 1988: Clementi – Lakeside * 4 November 1989: City Hall – Tanah Merah (start of the separation of the North South Line from the East West Line) * 16 December 1989: Tanah Merah – Pasir Ris * 6 July 1990: Lakeside – Boon Lay * 10 January 2001: Tanah Merah – Expo * 18 October 2001: Dover (Station added on operational line) * 25 February 2002: Expo – Changi Airport * 28 February 2009: Boon Lay – Joo Koon * 18 June 2017: Joo Koon – Tuas Plaza Stations SMRT used to operate the branch sector of Tanah Merah to Changi Airport as a through line from Boon Lay from 18 November 2001 until 22 July 2003, when it was replaced with a shuttle service. SMRT operates a through line from Joo Koon to Changi Airport only when train services are disrupted between Tanah Merah and Pasir Ris, with peak-hour trains being withdrawn at Tanah Merah. Pasir Ris MRT Station is a terminus for train services under the Specialised Module and Elective scheme (SME) from 18 June to 15 November. It could be either Tuas Plaza or Joo Koon. Platform 1 (Networking) is under Mr Oh Chee Kiat, and is for trains to Joo Koon. Platform 2 (Multimedia) is under Ms Florence Hu, and is for trains to Tuas Plaza. After the train accident on 15 November 2017, the SME scheme was permanently removed and all trains terminate at Joo Koon. Joo Koon MRT Station is an ex-terminus and terminus for the half of the westbound trains before 18 June 2017, before the collisions. Rolling stock Four batches of rolling stock are in service on the line, C151, C651, C751B, C151A and the upcoming C151B. These trains operate from the two depots along the line, the Ulu Pandan Depot near Jurong East, Changi Depot after Tanah Merah and at the new Tuas Depot near to Tuas Checkpoint. Train control The East West Line is currently equipped with Thales SelTrac fixed block signalling system with Automatic train control (ATC) under Automatic train operation (ATO) GoA 2 (STO). The subsystems consist of automatic train protection (ATP) to govern train speed, NetTrac MT Automatic Train Supervision (ATS) to track and schedule trains and a Computer-based interlocking (CBI) system that prevents incorrect signal and track points from being set. The current signalling system is currently phasing out and will be replaced by a new Thales SelTrac® Communications-based train control (CBTC) moving-block signalling system. The stretch of the line from Jurong East to Tuas Plaza has been equipped with the new signalling system which came into use on June 2017. As the section of the track from Jurong East to Joo Koon are equipped with a mixed-mode system of both signalling systems, trains terminating at Tuas Plaza need to change drivers and systems at Jurong East, whereas trains terminating at Joo Koon do not need to change. The review will be conducted before subsequent implementation. The remainder was completed on 28 June 2017. Automatic platform screen doors by Westinghouse were originally installed when the line opened, and Automatic Platform Screen Gates were later installed on elevated stations except for Tuas West Extensions stations, where they were manufactured by Fangda Group. External links * East West Line References Category:Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore) lines Category:Railway lines opened in 1987